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Multiple Deaths in Washington, DC, Shooting Rampage; Special ATF Team Sent to Shooting Site; Potentially Two Other Suspects at Large

Aired September 16, 2013 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Barbara Starr reports that extra security has been mobilized at the Pentagon, once again. It's out of an abundance of caution. They aren't saying they are responding to any specific threat at the Pentagon. But security, I can tell you, has been intensified throughout so many locations here in the nation's capital right now.

Just a little while ago, we heard from President Obama. He addressed the shooting in remarks at the White House. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've been briefed by my team on the situation. We still don't know all the facts but we do know that several people have been shot and some have been killed. So, we are confronting yet another mass shooting. And, today, it happened on a military installation in our nation's capital. It's a shooting that targeted our military and civilian personnel. These are men and women who were going to work, doing their job protecting all of us. They're patriots. And they know the dangers of serving abroad, but today they faced the unimaginable violence that they wouldn't have expected here at home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Clearly, the president moved as all of us are by this shooting incident here in the nation's capital.

Another eyewitness who had to run from the scene spoke out, as well, and said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICIA WARD: I heard three shots pow, pow, pow and, 30 seconds later, I haired four more shots. And a couple of us that were in the cafeteria knew they were shots and started panicking and then we was trying to decide which way we were going to run out. Everyone that was in the cafeteria, we were trying to run in the back, the workers in the back of the cafeteria told us to come in the back but I refused. I wanted to get out of the building so we all ran in the back where security was. And she was outside and she told us to run as far as we could. And she had a gun drawn. Someone had pulled the fire alarm. The next thing I heard, police cars, sirens. It just happened so fast. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Multiple fatalities, multiple injuries, precise numbers not yet available.

Brian Todd is over at the U.S. Navy Yard just outside. Brian, what else are you picking up?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, picking up just an added police presence here around this part of the perimeter. This is the easternmost side of the Navy yard. These are D.C. metropolitan police officers here in tactical gear. We've seen multiple police officers moving up and down this part of the perimeter. There are some going down the street right there.

Also, we are -- we know from just visualizing, we've got FBI personnel here as well as ATF personnel. There's been a park police chopper circling very low over part of the neighbor yard that is just to my left here. And I believe he's coming around for another pass here. I'm not sure whether -- he's actually very low over there. You may not -- we can't really pick him up with a camera right now because he's too low behind those buildings. Could be part of the search effort if, in fact, there are other two potential shooters.

We heard the police chief saying they are looking for two other potential shooters. We have to stress, at this time, that we just believe that they could be potential shooters. But, in these situations, it is such -- you know, it is such a fluid situation that you get sometimes witness accounts of other shooters in these cases when it turns out there are not other shooters.

But, again, according to the police chief, they are on the lookout. They are searching for two other potential shooters. They've got other police vehicles that have just moved past us here. There are multiple injuries, Wolf. We did get a report from George Washington University Hospital that among the first deceased people from the shooting was a man in his 60s who arrived at George Washington University Hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. Other victims have reported to hospital personnel that they heard shots in rapid succession, indicating possibly, possibly the use of some kind of automatic weapons.

But, again, to reiterate the -- what the police chief said a short time ago, one potential shooter is deceased. She said they are looking for two other potential shooters but, again, unclear where those people are. This is a perimeter that has been secured or not secured but they had set it up more than four hours ago. So, this search has been going on for now more than four hours, close to four and a half hours since one of the last potential shooters was last seen.

I can give you that description, again from police chief Cathy Lanier. One of the potential shooters described as a white male, wearing a short sleeve -- wearing a short sleeve shirt, potentially military style clothing, a beret, possibly carrying a handgun. The other potential shooter a black male approximately 50 years old possibly carrying a long gun, wearing olive drab clothing. So, these two people potentially wearing military style clothing but the police chief said they had no information to indicate they were or are active members or retired members of the military. But, again, that's -- a lot of this information is very sketchy at the moment -- Wolf.

BLITZER: It certainly is. And even if it's coming from official sources like the D.C. police chief, Cathy Lanier, I want to caution everyone, this is preliminary information clearly subject to change. It would not be unusual in a situation like this. Let's get some analysis now from Lou Palumbo. He's joining us from New York. Lou is a director of Elite Intelligence and Protection and a retired police officer in New York. When you hear what's going on, Lou, what do you make of this?

LOU PALUMBO, DIRECTOR, ELITE INTELLIGENCE AND PROTECTION AGENCY, LTD.: Well, as they indicated earlier, this is an ongoing investigation. I think what they may have done, at this point, is retrieved some videotape from the facility as well as interviewed people who may have seen these additional suspects. What they're trying to now do is just simply identify who these two individuals are. And, at the same time, creating a profile on the individual who, I believe, is deceased to try to determine who his associates might be. If, in fact, this individual is from the workplace, just a continuous investigation which just takes many different directions.

BLITZER: And I assume a facility like this, the U.S. Neighbor yard, the naval sea systems command, what's called building 197, Lou, would have extensive video cameras. But it takes a while to go through the videotape, doesn't it, to look at those closed circuit cameras and find the images that you desperately want to see?

PALUMBO: Yes, absolutely. I mean, based on just the geography of this facility, there's a lot of work involved. But they already know, for example, Wolf, where the shootings have taken place. So, they can immediately target those cameras that were focused on that area and start this investigation. They're going to want to branch this all the way out to the perimeter to see how and when these individuals accessed this facility, this complex.

BLITZER: Hold on for a moment, Lou, Jake Tapper is over at the scene where we saw the news conference just a little while ago from the D.C. mayor, the D.C. police chief. The D.C. police chief suggesting two suspects potentially were on the loose right now. Are you getting more information, Jake?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just a caution that a name that other media outlets have reported of one of the potential suspects is to be avoided. NCIS, naval intelligence put out the name as a potential suspect and then they retracted it but not before some other media organizations reported it, not CNN. That's the only update I have.

But, still, the standing manhunt is on. The search for two individuals who may be connected with the shooting. I am told that there is some internal skepticism of the shooters, these potential shooters that the D.C. Police chief reported as being potentially involved in the shooting, although she did say it was unconfirmed. The idea that two individuals with guns wearing military style uniforms on the grounds of the Navy yard would not be so unusual, of course it being a Navy yard.

And I'm told that those involved in the investigation are skeptical that this is definitive, that there are definitely two other shooters out there, that it may have been a case of a lot of things going on, a lot of people looking around, seeing people that they wondered who they were or didn't know who they were. But that potentially that these individuals are completely innocent and maybe even involved in security or were military police of some sort. So, that's just to say not that these two individuals don't exist but just that viewers should be cautious and know that the reports are being viewed with some skepticism -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, good point, Jake. Thanks very much. We've got more eyewitness accounts of what was -- what was going down just a little while ago over at the U.S. Navy Yard. Here's some more eyewitness sound.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While we were having a business meeting, it was about 20 after 8:00, and we heard three sounds. It sounded like a table able collapsing on the ground. And we came out of the office and said, what was that? And a minute later, we heard a loud pop which couldn't have been more than -- we estimated about 100 feet away. When that happened, everyone said this is no drill, go, go, go, emergency exits now, go, go, go. And a whole bunch of us were able to make it to the emergency exits. And we heard several more shots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, you were just having a meeting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then we heard sounds, pops. But it sounded like a table. Nobody knew what it was. It sounded like a table just dropping onto the ground. And the fourth shot was absolutely unmistakable. It was a loud gunshot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Gloria Borger is here, a long-time resident of the District of Columbia. People are nervous, right now, when they hear the D.C. police chief, Gloria, say that two suspects may be at large right now, potentially at least. People understandably, not just in that part of Washington near the Navy yard but throughout the District of Columbia, spilling over into Maryland and Virginia, are nervous.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right. I mean, look, they're nervous because you don't know what the entire story is, as Jake Tapper was pointing out. This is a really fluid situation. I think she was releasing this information so that people could be on guard and be on the lookout for these potential shooters. But we're -- but we're not sure whether indeed they are part of this or not part of this. So, I think she released this information out of an abundance of caution.

I might also add, Wolf, we saw the president earlier on this and you could see the concern on his face where he talked about yet another mass shooting. I mean, this is a president who's been through Fort Hood, who's been through Newtown, and now this. And so, you could see this on his face as the president of the United States.

BLITZER: He said specifically not only another mass shooting at a military the installation, and that military and civilian personnel were trying to do their job, in his words, were targeted. So, that's pretty specific words from the president of the United States.

BORGER: Yes, it is. And we know that he's been briefed several times on this unfolding situation by his homeland security advisor inside the White House, so it's clear he's being kept abreast of all this information. He was supposed to come out into the Rose Garden today, Wolf, to take this pivot to the economy which he eventually did but he first had to mention these shootings at the Navy yard and, secondly, he had to mention the unfolding situation with Syria and chemical weapons talks.

BLITZER: So, the president's got a huge amount on his plate right now. Gloria, thanks --

BORGER: Sure.

BLITZER: -- very much. We're staying on top of the breaking news. The D.C. police chief suggesting potentially two subjects at large, others are throwing some cautionary words saying maybe there's some miscommunication, misidentification of two others who may have been seen with guns at the U.S. Navy Yard. We're watching all of this. We'll continue our breaking news coverage if a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. We're following the breaking news here in Washington, D.C., over at the U.S. Navy Yard. A shooting incident occurred a few hours ago and there are multiple fatalities, we're told multiple injuries. And potentially one of the shooters -- we're told one shooter is deceased, according to the D.C. police chief, potentially two others at large, although it's unclear whether or not that is accurate. Cathy Lanier suggesting that. She's the D.C. police chief.

We have this eyewitness account of what happened over at the U.S. Navy Yard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICIA WARD, WITNESSED SHOOTING (voice-over): I heard the girl that was with me, I said somebody's shooting. So we just started panicking. And then we heard the shots, one, two, three, four and then we -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You heard four shots?

WARD: Right. After that one lady was like, let's just stay here in this - in the cafeteria behind the kitchen. (INAUDIBLE) I said, no, I've got to get out of here. So I just started running.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what kind of work do you do over there?

WARD: I'm an emergency management specialist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you heard actually seven shots?

WARD: Yes, those are the seven shots that I heard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what time?

WARD: That was about 8:20 this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

WARD: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you don't know who pulled the fire alarm?

WARD: I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What floor were you on?

WARD: I was at -- on the main floor of the cafeteria.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

WARD: The shooting took place on the fourth floor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did anybody yell out anything other than "they're shooting"?

WARD: Everybody knew it was a gunshot. Nobody screamed. They just started running, running.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. And you ran out yourself or --

WARD: Yes. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

WARD: Yes, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said you heard a security guard saying something, giving order -

WARD: Yes, when I - when I was coming out - running out the (INAUDIBLE), he had a gun drawn and she said, go, run as far as you can, so -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What kind of security do you have to pass through to get in that building?

WARD: You cannot get inside -- I'm not going to show my name. But you cannot get inside the building unless you have this type of CAT (ph) card. A CAT (ph) card has got to be scanned. This is the only way you can enter the building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The building or the complex all together?

WARD: The build -- the complex all together. Even when the doors are locked, they don't unlock till 6:30 in the morning. You can't get inside the building unless you have a CAT (ph) card.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the shooting took place inside the building?

WARD: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you said you actually heard the shots?

WARD: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were upstairs on the fourth floor, though?

WARD: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you heard them all the way in the lobby?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you hold that up one more time. Thanks. Thank you.

WARD: (INAUDIBLE) an atrium. So basically you can look on every floor in the atrium. It's open space.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a metal detector to get in the building?

WARD: No, there isn't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you look up in the atrium?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No -- no metal detector to get in the building?

WARD: No metal detector.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But onto the campus, right?

WARD: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, just the I.D.

WARD: You need the I.D. to get inside the door if it's locked before 6:30. After 6:30, the locks come off. But in order for you to go through, you have to scan your badge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no metal detector?

WARD: There's no metal detector.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And in this open atrium, did you look up and see anybody or anything? No? WARD: And, you know, I had just left the ATM machine, so I wasn't thinking anything was going to happen. And then in the cafeteria, when we heard something sound that loud, that many times, it wasn't something that dropped on the floor. It was shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry, could you repeat, where were you when you heard the shooting?

WARD: On the first floor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First floor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where is this actually - where -- what building?

WARD: 197.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where is it located?

WARD: It's the main building. It's the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters. It's the main building where our admiral runs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What job do you have there?

WARD: I'm sorry?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What job are you doing there?

WARD: Well, actually, I work in building 201, but I was in 197 to go to the cafeteria.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

WARD: Where I work at, I'm do logistic management work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what happened after you heard the shooting? What happens?

WARD: Everybody just started scattering out of the cafeteria. And I saw some people coming out of their offices running.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Running -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And how many shots did you hear?

WARD: At least seven. It was three the first time, but then it was quiet for about three seconds. And then pop, pop, pop, pop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, could you tell us the whole story through from the beginning to one continuous narrative?

WARD: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you were in there. You were getting cash from the ATM.

WARD: No, I had already went to the ATM that was in the cafeteria. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WARD: I just paid for my breakfast.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WARD: And I heard pop, pop, pop. And the girl that was with me, I said, somebody's shooting. And everybody in the cafeteria kind of panicked. And then it was three second break and then it was pop, pop, pop, pop and everybody started running. We just started panicking and running out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Navy Yard cafeteria?

WARD: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Patricia Ward, an eyewitness to what was going on over at the U.S. Navy Yard, specifically over at building 197 in the Naval Sea Systems Command.

Mike Bouchard is joining us right now, he's a former official with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

I assume they're going to look closely at the weapons that were involved, Mike. Walk us through what your colleagues would be doing right now on the scene.

MIKE BOUCHARD, FORMER ATF OFFICIAL (via telephone): Good afternoon, Wolf.

Yes, basically what the police will be doing is any spent shell casings that they find throughout the scene, they'll be obviously preserving those for evidence. But they're looking -- they're trying to determine what caliber of gun the shooter may have used. If he was using a revolver, obviously those don't eject the spent shell casings like a semi-automatic does. But they'll also be working with the hospital also. Any of the bullet fragments that come from the victims, much like we did back in the beltway sniper case, they'll look at the bullets that come from the victims and try and ascertain what type of caliber it was - was used. So that's where ATF's ballistics experts will be working very closely with law enforcement on that.

BLITZER: Because we've heard all sorts of accounts suggesting an assault rifle, a handgun, a shotgun. All of the above may have been used. They're going to be pretty precise in finding out all that information. And that would be critical as part of the investigation is concerned.

BOUCHARD: Certainly. What they're going to have to look at what law enforcement or security officers may involved -- if there was a shootout between both parties, they're going to have to ascertain which - you know, who shot what bullets and where the shots came from, et cetera. So it's like putting the pieces of a puzzle together, but all the law enforcement agencies who are working on this have a lot of experience doing this. Unfortunately, I've done it numerous times. Unfortunately, they keep doing it more often than we'd like to see. So I'm confident they'll put this together very -- in a short time.

BLITZER: Because we have D.C. Metropolitan Police, we have military police from the Navy, other parts of the U.S. military from the Department of Defense. You have the FBI, you have the ATF. You have multiple agencies involved right now. I assume the FBI takes charge, is that right?

BOUCHARD: Correct. This is a federal facility and federal employees have been assaulted. So the FBI will take lead. Since it's a naval facility, NCIS will also work closely with them. And, of course, since its a homicide in the District of Columbia, the D.C. Police will have a significant role. All the other agencies, ATF and some of the others, are playing supporting roles. They have unique expertise like ATF does with ballistics or some of the others and they'll all play a supporting role for this task force.

BLITZER: We spoke to Lou Palumbo before and I -- he said they presumably are already going through some of the closed circuit TV cameras around there. You agree that would be critical right now to try to find out if it was one individual, more than one individuals. That would be pretty important information.

BOUCHARD: It certainly will. And the task force leaders, this is like an orchestra. There's so many moving parts. And what they're doing is having all these different parts, moving parts, going at once. Some are looking at video, other people are doing interviews, other people are collecting evidence, people are running down leads. All these things are coming together and they come back into one central command post and then the information is disseminated and they figure out what steps they need to do next.

BLITZER: Mike Bouchard will be helping us, from the - formerly with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, ATF. Mike, thanks very much.

We're staying on top of the breaking news here in Washington, D.C. A shooting incident over at the U.S. Navy Yard. Multiple injuries, multiple fatalities. Our coverage continues in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: At least 10 people are injured. This is what we know right now. At least one person has been killed after a shooting rampage at the Washington Naval Yard, just a short distance from where we are here in the nation's capital. Here's more of what we know right now.

Shooting broke out this morning around 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Witnesses described one of the gunmen has a tall, bald man.

You know what, let's listen in to this officer who's got some more information.

CMDR. TIM JIRUS, U.S. NAVY: Security who was at the far end of the building. He fell down to the ground and I ran out of there. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I see. So who -- do you know what happened to him?

JIRUS: I do not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, how -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So this -- was this man in the process of evacuating as well?

JIRUS: He was not (ph). He actually worked in the maintenance building behind me. He simply walked up to try to say, hey, there's a shooter in your building. Do you know what's going on? It's like, I don't know what's going on. The fire alarm went off. We're trying to evacuate everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

JIRUS: That's when he got shot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

JIRUS: I'm still worried about the rest of my people who were in the building who are trying to be evacuated. We have a plan to shelter in place when they have shooters who come to the building. So they're slowly clearing that building and getting all of our people out. So between Blackberry texts and everything else, I'm trying to track and make sure all of our people are out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But you don't know what happened to the man who was shot?

JIRUS: I'm fairly certain he's dead because he was shot in the head.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you see that for yourself that -

JIRUS: Correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That must have been very traumatic for you. I mean, you're not showing it now, but I mean -

JIRUS: Yes, it's traumatic but, you know, I don't feel lucky that he got hit instead of me, but I feel lucky to be here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) the fact -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So (INAUDIBLE).

JIRUS: I can't remember right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I'm just coming in on this. So were you -- you were in 197?

JIRUS: To start with, correct. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. And you heard the shots, but you didn't see the shooter?

JIRUS: Correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So kind of walk me through beginning to end, please.

JIRUS: So we heard what we sound like were shots but like far away or muscled. In fact, it sounded to me like a cap gun went off. Like really small caliber, something like that, if anything. And then about a minute or two after that, somebody was running through the hallway saying, hey, everybody, get out of the building. And then about a couple minutes after that, the fire alarm in the building went off to evacuate everybody. So I thought it was a fire drill like anything else. I just wanted to get everybody out of the building. So we walked out of the building. And part of my job is to make sure people get down the fire escapes. Sorry about that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry about that.

JIRUS: Sure. Part of my job is once everybody gets out of the fire exits, to make sure they get away from the building and muster. So that's why I obviously went in the alley, waiting for everybody to clear out of the building when the other shots rang out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, at what point does this man come up to you and tell you, are you aware there's --

JIRUS: So I'd been sitting in the - standing in the alley for maybe five or 10 minutes, waiting for everybody to come out of the building, make sure there's nobody left. And he walked up and told me that he heard that there was a shooter in our building. We were just standing here maybe three feet away having a conversation and then we heard two more gunshots and he went down and that's when I ran.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: While you were speaking to him?

JIRUS: While I was talking to him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you said you knew him?

JIRUS: Never met him before in my life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well did you know where the -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you know where he worked?

JIRUS: Well, he came out of the maintenance building. That's what he was saying. Like, hey, I'm working in the maintenance building and I was coming over to, you know, see what was going on.